


On Hyrule's Death

by DragonflyxParodies



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Adventure, Akkala Citadel, Ancient Technology, F/F, F/M, Lots of ancient ruins, Lots of exploring, M/M, Murder Mystery, Post Game, Post-Breath of the Wild, Sheikah Culture, Solving Canon Mysteries With Fanfic, Sort Of, The Great Plateau, Violence, War, kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 19:47:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13060929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonflyxParodies/pseuds/DragonflyxParodies
Summary: The Calamity lays defeated and Hyrule is finally at peace – and so its citizens begin to pick up its pieces. When Zelda’s inquires after an old friend, Impa sends her, Link, and Paya on a journey to discover what happened to him after the Fall of Hyrule, and, hopefully, recover his body. And so a court poet’s story is revealed, and Hyrule learns of a hero whose story remained unsung for decades.{{In which the three look for Impa’s dead nephew and find more than they bargained for.}}





	1. I hope this finds you.

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooo two things. Kass repeatedly mentions his teacher being the royal court poet, a Sheikah, Zelda's age, and in love with her/has issues with Link. DOES THAT SOUNDS LIKE ANYBODY??? HMMM???? Yet If he was a Sheikah, he'd still be alive come Link waking back up, if Impa is anything to judge by. But he's not. This kind of stemmed from that, and the fact that you can't actually go inside Akkala/the Great Plateau. They are giant buildings, and you can clearly see doorways/windows - but they've all been crushed/blocked off. And nobody talks about the war to stop the Calamity except the Zora??? Who just fucking cut all contact w/Hyrule??? So that too.
> 
> Finally, please keep in mind that this has a lot of death/violence/um, situations like that? So do whatever you need to do in regards to that; there will not be chapter specific warnings bc it will be the entire story.

His body was bathed in pale blue light, the shimmering static of a Sheikah ward separating the altar he lay upon from the rest of the room. The walls were the same dark brown as other Sheikah structures, shot through with threads of blue light spiraling up into an endless void above their heads.

The weight of the Great Plateau above them, the guts of the Shrine of Resurrection laid bare before them, and the finality of their discovery in front of them…

He turned, face drawn and pale. Zelda was frozen, hands caught half-risen to her mouth, eyes locked on the body. On the corpse.

Even with the icy hue cast upon him, Link could see the pale yellow of his hair, fanned out and dripping past the edges of the stone he lay upon. His skin was so white in death it was almost translucent, mouth tinged just blue enough to be purple.

If it weren’t for the red splattered on his cheeks, laced down his temples, the gore where his eyes should have been, the dark bruises at his throat – he might still have been alive.

Paya let out a noise somewhere between a whimper and a gag.

The corpse’s hands were folded neatly across his stomach, bandages pristine and armor – old, _old_ Sheikah armor, styled in a way that Link didn’t recognize at _all_ – untouched.

For over a hundred years he’d lain there. Still. Waiting.

“Who could have – who would have _wanted_ to put him here?” Paya finally asked, stepping up to Link’s side. Her voice shook, and he glanced back to the women. She had seized Zelda’s hand, and the two held each other so tightly their knuckles were white.

“…The door had bindings on it, you said.” Zelda whispered, and she finally forced herself to look away from the body.

“Yes but… _old_ ones. Ancient, and they’ve been open for…a long time.” Paya’s voice faltered, eyes widening as some realization struck her, and she spun on her heel to stare at the entrance. Link followed suit, already on edge.

The doorway was large, circular, the engraved stone that acted as a door laying gently on wall beside it. Outside the room, of course – they couldn’t see it from where they stood now.

“He would have…the bindings had to have been broken by a Sheikah. He would have had to…he would have had to open it.”

Link cast an uneasy glance around the room. Besides the altar, besides the body, it was bare. A hollow chamber beneath the Shrine of Resurrection, caged in the stonework of the Great Plateau’s keep. Either the building had been built around it, and the Plateau itself build atop that, or the stone had been carved until this chamber, in the center of the building, had been found.

Either was…worrying, considering.

“Can we – I don’t care. I just – can we take him with us? I don’t – whoever did this to him is long dead. And he deserves a proper burial.” Zelda’s voice cracked, shivered and broke as she spoke. Her free arm wound its way around her waist, like she was spilling out from her body and trying to hold herself in.

This was a crushing blow to her, Link knew. Impa had asked them to find her nephew, to see what had happened to him, to help her heal. To help her realize that _even if_ everyone she knew was dead, that didn’t mean she should _grieve._ But Impa must not have known he was murdered, mutilated. Left caged in a prison of his people’s own design.

_Prison…?_

Link turned slowly, the hair on the back of his neck raising. And – yes, he’d been right. Ringing the altar, the stonework that generated the Sheikah ward was scratched, crumbling in some places. All the way around it. A glance up revealed the same of the chandelier-like structure topping the ward.

“Something was kept here. He let it out. And it…put him there.” He spoke slowly, hand easing toward his sword as both women looked at him. Zelda looked outright horrified, Paya like she was either going to be sick or stab someone. That was…jarring. He’d never seen her angry before – not at _any_ of the people they’d met on their journey to find her cousin’s body.

“…Hello.”

Paya drew her staff, letting go of Zelda, and Zelda drew her own weapon, a thin rapier.

The figure standing in the doorway was dark, all shadow and smoke. Yet as they stared, it seemed to coalesce, becoming solid. It was a man, or at least…the _shadow_ of a man.

Bright red eyes stared out of the darkness, regarding them almost gleefully. Link’s stomach lurched, when he realized what they were.

“…I can see why he wasn’t impressed with you. Is…Link still your name?” It was suddenly right before him, ice-cold fingers brushing his cheek as it stared directly into his eyes.

The Master Sword, however, was not shinning at all. Link didn’t dare draw it, not when…when it wasn’t _reacting_.

“What are you?” He asked instead, slowly lifting his hand from his blade’s hilt. Zelda and Paya saw it, and, thank Hylia, didn’t attack. He did tilt his head away from the thing’s touch, though.

A careless shrugged answered him, and the thing moved back. Shifted, the darkness inside of it swirling and writhing like it was alive, and vanished.

“You can’t take him.”

Link spun a little too quickly, but the creature was simply perched on the top of the ward, one long leg dangling off the structure’s edge.

“He’s my blood.” Paya retorted sharply, drawing herself to her full height. The symbols etched into her staff sparked, spat a deep purple light.

“…You…don’t know? Do you?” The creature’s voice was soft, almost gentle. The three of them traded sharp, confused looks – this was…well. They’d been sent to find a _body_ , not engage in some kind of back-and-forth with a murderous _demon_. Link was at a loss, Zelda still too traumatized by the body of her best friend to do much about anything, Paya too horrified by what had been done to him.

“He offered himself to me _willingly_. Brokered a deal in the name of the Three. You could not break that kind of promise if you tried.”

“You don’t honestly—“ Zelda’s voice was sharp, brittle. But the creature just let out a soft huff, cutting her off mid-sentence.

“He knew you’d come, you know. Knew you’d try. So – here I am, fulfilling _my_ end of the bargain.” And the creature was gone again, this time materializing beside Zelda. It reached out, put its hand over hers, and either ignored or truly did not notice the absolute revulsion in her face.

All he did was push her sword down, and Link thought he could see the faint outline of lips, of a smile.

“What bargain?” Paya asked sharply, and the tremor of fear in her voice drew Link’s attention back to her.

She looked _terrified._

“He gave me himself. And my freedom. And in turn – well. I saved you.” The creature murmured, lifting a hand and _pointing_.

Link’s blood ran cold, as his companions turned to look at him.

“ _What?”_ Zelda demanded, and Link resisted the urge to reach out to her, to Paya. To hold onto someone else, another living being.

The creature settled cross-legged on the floor before the ward, the soft hum of static growing when it leaned back against the blue barrier. When it spoke, its voice was soft, hushed.

“…Let me tell you a story.”


	2. And I hope you are well.

_He wasn’t quite sure how many explosions had already sounded when he finally woke, but the noise was disorienting. Sheik’s fingers scrabbled against the stone beneath him as he gasped and threw himself to his feet. He stumbled, and froze like that—there was no other sound, no other boom. As quickly as he had registered the noise, it had vanished. He peered through the bars of his cell cautiously, heart slowing as he tried to make sense of what was going on._

_The man across the hall from him—a murderer? Traitor? Thief? Honestly only Hylia knew how petty his crime had been, since Rhoam had gone mad—was cowering in a corner, prayers slipping past his lips as he sobbed._

_And then the wall behind him exploded, and a clawed thing slammed down on top of the man. Sheik stumbled back as blood sprayed throughout the cell, the crunch of bone so loud it was audible over the crashing stonework and screaming metal outside._

_The bulk of a Guardian passed by, and the leg retreated as the thing scurried off. Sheik stood frozen, watching with horrified eyes as the machine glowed an unfamiliar red, as flashes of light and thick, acrid smoke blazed across sky visible through the gaping hole across from him._

_A roar that shook him to his marrow sounded, and Sheik could only stare as a great mass of red-black smoke twisted through the air past his vantage point, the shape nested within it lit starkly by a sudden flash of light. A great boar head, fanged mouth open wide in a scream._

_Another sob caught his attention, and Sheik’s gaze dropped from the monstrosity above them to the source of the noise. A Hylian woman, her green eyes meeting his, sharing the same horror he felt. The Guardian had crushed half of her cell, and though she stood bleeding and covered in dust, the bars of her cell were bent and cracked in such a way that she would have no problem slipping through._

_His own stood tall and straight, dented only slightly._

_Sheik swallowed, hard. And spoke._

_“Run.”_

XXXXXXXXX

“What are you?” Link asked again, and Paya clutched Zelda’s hand like a lifeline as the three of them started at the—at the _thing_ sitting in front of them.

Her cousin’s body lay desecrated on the altar behind him, like he’d fallen only hours before and not over a century ago. Every time she looked at him, her gaze flickered up to the horror that was his face, and she felt bile rise in her throat.

Aunt Purah would…oh, _Goddess_ , as if losing him for the first time hadn’t driven her mad enough, this would _break_ her. And Grandmother…

“Will you listen, if I tell you?” It asked, sighing. Link nodded slowly, cautiously, and Paya tightened her grip on her staff, incantations resting at the tip of her tongue.

She didn’t understand why the Hylians were waiting, _letting Sheik’s killer talk_ – but if…well. If it could tell them anything about what had happened to him…

 _Then_ she’d kill it.

“The Calamity wasn’t always a mindless beast. He used to be _just like you.”_ The creature dragged the last few words out, stolen eyes lit with mirth.

Link didn’t react to that, but Zelda flinched as if she’d been struck.

“He knew he couldn’t stop a _prophecy_. So when the Hero of Time revealed himself, the Calamity broke him into pieces. And…kept me.”

Paya looked to Link immediately, but again, Link hadn’t reacted. _Was he even concerned about this?_

“You’re – part of the Hero of Time, then?” Link asked, and he finally moved, glancing over his shoulder. At them? No…at his sword. _Why…?_

“Not…really. He was a part of me. I was not a part of him, not after…what happened.”

“Link, this is –“

“Why haven’t you attacked us, then? Why bother speaking to us?” Link asked, interrupting Zelda.

Paya shot the Hylian woman a look, but like Link, Zelda was too enraptured in the killer’s words to pay attention.

“I don’t _want_ to kill you. Therefore I won’t. And I already told you – I have a promise to uphold.”

“The story you mentioned?”

“You want to know how he got here, don’t you?” The creature replied, and Paya could have sworn it _smiled_.

“He knew you’d come looking for him, Princess.” It added, and it took all she had not to just… _attack_.

“By Sheikah Law you have—“

“Your Laws carry no weight when it is willingly given. He knew full-well what he was doing, and if you profane our bargain I _will_ cut you down where you stand.”

Link caught her staff before she could finish swinging it and jerked it out of her hands.

“Paya—“

“Do you _know what that thing did?_ Do you understand what it did to him?!”

And Link just _stared_ at her, like it was—

“If Sheik...Why would he allow that? Why would he agree to something like that?” Zelda’s voice shook—she, at least, seemed to understand. White-yellow light sparked at her fingertips as she turned to stare at the creature, and Paya…couldn’t help but stare.

She’d never seen Zelda’s power before. Never seen the Hylian Princess…the Hylian _Queen_ …lose control.

Link had told her before it was unsettling to see, a sight to behold, but…she couldn’t find the beauty in it, the awe. Not with her cousin’s body and a shadow _monster_ causing it.

The creature was silent a moment, then tilted its head to the side.

“…You do know that this is a… _direct_ route to the Shrine of Resurrection and what powers it? If Ganon would have gained access to it, your Hero’s corpse would have stood no chance – your _kingdom_ would have stood no chance. He was going to die here anyway. He just…chose to make his death worth something.”

“Stop. Stop talking. You –“

“And you, little Sheikah. Your blood runs weak with life now. There is very little that pretty light of yours could do to me. It is a… _shame_. To see your people so wasted, decrepit.” And it sounded truly mournful, stolen eyes gentle and soft as they regarded her.

_What was it talking about?_

She hadn’t realized she’d spoken aloud until the creature chuckled.

“That is not something you should ask the living, little Sheikah.”

Both Link and Zelda grabbed her, held her back. Her incantation hit anyway, fizzing out the moment in struck the creature’s chest.

She fought their grip – she would _rip this thing apart with her fucking teeth if she had to –_ and managed to free her arm, ignoring the heat of Zelda’s own magic against her flesh, the strength in Link’s arms –

– And the world went black for a moment.

When her vision cleared she found herself sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the creature, Zelda to her right and Link to her left. The creature’s frown was sharp, dangerous, when it stared at them.

The shadows in the room had darkened, slithered free of their owners and objects and wound themselves around her limbs, holding her down in place.

Terror pounded like a second heartbeat in her chest. This creature should not have this power. Should not be able to command the shadows. Should not have been able to violate Sheik in the manner it had.

This was _impossible._

“I will not harm you. But if you do not _want_ to listen, I must _make_ you listen. Keep yourself under control, little Sheikah. My patience is not what it once was.”

“Then talk.” Link said, and his voice echoed throughout the chamber like a bell. Paya could not speak, not if she – she wouldn’t let herself show weakness to this creature any more than she already had. She couldn’t bring herself to look at it, either. Instead her gaze moved passed it, to her cousin’s body.

“Where should I start?”

“The beginning.”

“Whose?”

“His.”

And the creature smiled at Link’s demand, settled into a pile of loose limbs and shadow in front of them, still leaning against the barrier.

“Alright.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uuuuuuuuuuuughghgh pacing this will be very weird, I apologize in advance.


End file.
